Capacitors are widely used in electronic circuitry to store charge. They are particularly useful in applications wherein a rapid high voltage charge, or surge charge, is required. In general, the capacitors are charged by a power source and release the charge as needed.
Modern applications place an ever increasing demand on surge charge requirements. At the same time there is an ever increasing demand to miniaturize electronic components and devices. These two desires are in direct conflict.
One approach to the desire for a surge charge is to have a module comprising multiple capacitors. If a higher voltage charge is required the number of capacitors, or the size of the capacitors, is increased. Unfortunately, this approach is in direct conflict with miniaturization efforts.
A prior art capacitor assembly is illustrated schematically in FIG. 10. In FIG. 10, a multiplicity of capacitors, typically in a grid, are surface mounted as typically employed in the art. Each capacitor, 2, comprises an anode lead, 3, and cathode termination, 4. The packing density of capacitors is limited by the necessity to have the capacitors sufficiently separated to avoid electrical shorts between the adjacent capacitors. Therefore, the maximum packing density of capacitors has been reached in the art.
Yet another problem in the art is the inflexibility of the capacitor modules. These are typically designed and manufactured for a specific application which greatly increases the cost. There is a desire for a module which can be configured in multiple arrangements easily.
There has been an ongoing desire for a capacitor module which is small yet which can provide a large instantaneous charge. There has also been an ongoing desire for a capacitor module which can be configured for multiple uses.